The Chief Administrative Officer Budaka Mr Elly Piwang has cautioned group members in their different associations to use the Emyooga funds appropriately to avoid embarrassments.
“You should always use these government funds in the right way and don’t be like the youth who was arrested after failing with their projects,” he said.
This was during the official launch of the Emyooga funds at the district headquarters attended by the group Executive leaders, Microfinance Support Centre and district officials.
According to Mr Piwang, some people get excited and pick the money but they fail to inject in profitable ventures and end up using it for luxuries.
He assured the members that police will arrest whoever will mismanage the funds thinking it’s a political reward.
The CAO said he will task banks to impose restrictions on withdrawals.
He said he doesn’t want scenarios like in YLP where the government injected over a billion shillings to the district but only 30 million has been recovered.
Mr Dan Waaki the DistrictCcommercial Officer said 36 associations have been registered with 18 associations from each county of Iki-Iki and Budaka.
RDC Budaka Tom Chesol urged beneficiaries to utilize the money properly and warned the group leaders who are signatories to the accounts against using their positions to fleece the monies and disappear.
‘’Your future has already been secured even if you didn’t vote for my principal so as of now I expect every group to have an objective for this money don’t use it for paying debts and dowry’’ he said.
Mr Victor Ojede the Mbale branch manager Microfinance Support Centre revealed that all the Sacco accounts opened at Housing Finance and Post banks have been fully funded with the call on the executive members to follow the stipulated guidelines while accessing the money.
Meanwhile, Other groups members who had deposited their money decried how the banks had started overcharging and deducting their money.
The government last year unveiled a Shs165.7b poverty eradication plan slated to alleviate Ugandans from poverty.
Dubbed “Emyooga initiative”, the programme is meant to get Ugandans doing similar jobs to form savings groups, whose bank balances will be boosted by a grant from the government.
The money would then be used as a revolving fund, with members borrowing out of it.
Implemented by the Microfinance Support Centre Ltd (MSC), the project targets 18 clusters of the economy. These include Boda Boda riders, women entrepreneurs, carpenters, salon operators, taxi operators and restaurant owners.
Others are welders, market vendors, youth leaders, persons with disabilities (PWDS), produce dealers, mechanics, tailors, journalists, performing artists, veterans, fishermen and elected leaders.
The project is being implemented at the constituency level, with each constituency receiving Sh560m and each cluster or group expected to get Shs30 million.
